Tottenham coach Les Ferdinand has refuted suggestion that Andre Villas-Boas had four of Spurs’ seven new summer recruits forced on him.

Morning reports claim the sacked Portuguese boss was against the signings of Erik Lamela, Nacer Chadli, Vlad Chiriches and Christian Eriksen, but had his judgement overruled by chairman Daniel Levy and director of football Franco Baldini.

However, Ferdinand insists that while Villas-Boas may not have necessarily hand-picked those players, there was no objection to their arrival.

‘Most of the signings were perhaps suggestions to him, but he agreed to those suggestions,’ Ferdinand told Beyond the Pitch.

‘The bottom line is he agreed to all of those signings. It wasn’t a case that the players were brought in and he was told “You have to make a team of these players”, because if you’re a manager and that happens, you’re destined for the sack.

‘From speaking to AVB, I understand he was happy that the players came to the club.’

Sacked: Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas (Picture: Reuters)

Ferdinand also hinted that Villas-Boas was harshly blamed for the new boys’ slow start to life at White Hart Lane.

‘We lost Gareth Bale and spent over £100m pounds. When you spend that kind of money you forget the fact that they need to settle in,’ he added.

‘Most players that come into the Premier League need about six months to a year for them to settle in – six months if they hit the ground running.

‘But in all honesty, the management and the people above were all saying that qualifying for the Champions League was a minimum.’